By any measure, a lovely, jolly book.
“How do you measure a year?”
By charting how much you’ve grown? By taking pride in the new things you’ve learned, created, and accomplished? By thinking about the friends you made and the experiences and feelings you had? How about all those and more? In simple, appealing, lilting rhymes, this sweet, thought-provoking picture book describes how to think about the most sacred holidays in the Jewish calendar—the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). These holidays mark not only the beginning of a new year, but also times of looking back upon the past year, reflecting on oneself, and owning up to and making up for mistakes made. A splendid feature of this book is that, without the text’s specifically mentioning it, the delightful illustrations strongly imply that a year can also be measured by how much one has widened one’s circle and opened home, mind, and heart to others—that is, how inclusive one is regarding family, friends, and neighbors. The cheery art, created with watercolor, colored pencil, and Photoshop, presents a lovely display of humanity—perfect for a new year, every year, and every day: Children and adults are diverse in skin tone, hair color, and physical ability. Jewish readers will appreciate depictions of Jewish culture throughout, including symbols and joyous holidays and celebrations. Endpapers highlight Rosh Hashanah’s delicious symbols—apples and honey—signifying a “sweet New Year.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
By any measure, a lovely, jolly book. (information on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4497-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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